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Caim
Caim is the main protagonist of Drakengard and an antagonist in Drakengard 2. '' Caim is pact-partners with a Red Dragon. The price of his pact was his ability to speak, and the mark is on his tongue. He is the main player character available in ''Drakengard and one of the most powerful. He is voiced by Peter in Japanese (credited as Shinnosuke Ikehata). According to Taro Yoko, Caim was conceptualized at the same time as the Red Dragon. The development team wanted to create a "new type of romance" between an elderly woman and a young man and purposely cast them with the same Japanese voice actor. Their amusement over Peter's contrasting performances for both characters led to the dual credits. Yoko commented that Caim is a reckless deconstruction of the hero archetype, as he believes that any game which centers on slaughtering hundreds in war shouldn't deserve a happy ending. He said that Caim was roughly based on Guts from Berserk. In Dengeki Online's character popularity poll, he was voted as the most popular character of the series with fans. Story Early Youth Caim is the only son of Gäap (ガァプ), a kind and just king who once ruled a small eastern country named Caerleon. Gäap was the eighth king to rule and believed firmly in his family's ancient teachings of advanced swordsmanship. He was able to conquer the neighboring countries with his prudent yet fierce tactics. A man of remarkable charisma, he even caused his enemies to defect to his side. One such enemy was Ipris, Inuart's father, who he trusted as a true friend. Sometime before Caim's birth, Gäap halted his conquests for the sake of his exhausted countrymen and only fought to protect their hard-earned peace. Gäap was aware of the Empire's growing influence yet hesitated to start war with them due to their overwhelming forces. He would discreetly send troops to oppose their enemy near their borders, but he would not declare open conflict with them. He thought it best to prepare Caim as his successor, thinking that it would benefit the country's welfare. He taught Caim and Inuart his family's swordsmanship, sparing them no mercy in their training sessions. Unlike Caim, who took pride in his strength, Gäap suspected Inuart's jealousy towards his son during their lessons. The king hoped his friend's son would eventually overcome his inner dilemma and genuinely believe in their friendship. Caim was once a courteous and gentle youth like his father; he easily forgave his fellow man and never held a grudge. He idolized his father and aspired to be like him. Since he spent most of his youth dedicating himself to his extensive sword training, he was completely unaware of the Empire inching closer to his homeland. On his eighteenth birthday, as he hurried to receive his parents' blessings, Caim personally witnessed the Black Dragon devouring his mother. Gäap told his son to escape with Furiae and tried to hold it off; he too fell before it. The death of his parents dealt a deafening blow to both him and the kingdom. Caim learned afterwards that the dragon was sent there by the Watchers, who were associated with the Empire. The only remnant he had left to note his royalty was the bracelet both he and Furiae wear on their left wrist. In his period of grief, Caim's kindness died with his parents. After his kingdom fell to ruin, Caim decided to rely on no one else but himself. He would only believe in his own strength and his sword in the battlefield. When he first left his home and joined the Union, it was with the pure intent of avenging his parents. As the years of fighting the Empire waged on, however, Caim's anger towards his loss gradually manifested into pleasure killing others. His guilt was dulled with the many lives he took. He justifies to himself that he is fighting for revenge, even if his naysayers state otherwise. Caim's past is slightly different in the unfinished comic adaptation, Drag-On Dragoon Judgement. He was popular and surrounded by friends during his home's time of peace. Caim was aware of the Empire prior to his parents' deaths since he helped his father fight them during their first invasion. It was also his first battle, which solidified his favor as heir. When an elderly man witnessed the Goddess's seal on Furiae, Caim killed him in front of his sister to keep it a secret. His behavior changed dramatically after the incident. Battle of the Castle In an attack on the Castle of the Goddess by the Empire, Caim fights in a fierce battle to protect the Goddess, his sister Furiae. A mighty warrior, Caim slays countless foes. As the attack draws into the castle courtyard, Caim finds that the Empire has captured a Red Dragon. Engulfed by hatred, Caim approaches the dragon with murderous intent as images of his parents' death flash through his mind. As Caim raises his sword, the dragon speaks, claiming that even though Caim may kill her, her soul won't be dirtied. Instead of killing her, Caim asks if she wishes to live and offers her a pact, saying that he wishes to live as well. Before the red dragon can give her answer, more imperial soldiers attack. Caim deals with them quickly, asking the dragon once again for her answer. The dragon states that they are bonded by their need to live and accepts the pact. As they put their souls together, the two are healed and become one. The price of Caim's pact, for gaining so much power, was his voice (The dragon speaks for Caim for the rest of the game). Caim and the dragon soar through the sky, destroying the Empire's aircraft, and then proceed to destroy all imperial soldiers on the ground and in the castle. There, he stands with his sister Furiae and his childhood friend, Inuart. They have a moment of peace (which involves showing the two Caim's pact mark on his tongue) before deciding they should hide Furiae elsewhere. They then decide to go to the elven village. Protecting the Seals When they reach the village of the elves, however, they find that the whole village has been slaughtered. Inuart and Furiae go on ahead to the desert temple seeking Hierarch Verdelet, while Caim stays in the forest. He meets Leonard and attempts to protect the Forest of the Seal. They fail and decide to go to the desert to protect the seal there. They find Furiae, only to learn that Inuart and Verdelet have been captured by the Empire. Caim heads for the imperial prison in the desert and frees Verdelet. As for Inuart, all they find is his harp. The Empire attacks the Desert Seal and succeeds in destroying it. Afterwards, the group finds an elven woman by the name of Arioch, whom is a pact partner with Undine & Salemander. After some discussion (and an attempt by her to feast on Caim's flesh), it is decided that Arioch will join them on their journey. Later, Inuart finds Caim, saying that the only way to free Furiae from her burden as a Godess is to bring her to the Empire. Caim refuses, and the two fight. It is then that Inuart also shows that he is a pact partner with a black dragon, the one that killed Caim's parents. The two dragons do battle as well, with the black dragon gaining the upper hand. Caim rushes in to strike down the black dragon, but is met with a fiery inferno. Protected only by his red dragon, the two lose the battle. Inuart takes Furiae, stating, "Welcome to a world without song" and flies off, leaving his harp behind. With this harsh blow, the group still tries to protect the seals. They manage to find the ocean seal, only to lose it as well. Now only one seal remains, Furiae. Before they can start looking for her though, the Empire decides to unleash a massive attack on the Union in a glorious battle. Caim heads through the mountains, finding a young boy, and pact partner, Seere. Then they face off against the Empire. With Caim and his dragon's strength, they manage to defeat them. Suddenly, the skies turn red, meteors fall to the ground, and the dead Empire soldiers rise again. Now Caim fights against the undead, and his army is slaughtered. After the battle, Caim finds the Empire's flying fortress. He is met by Inuart once again, and the two battle in the sky. Inuart flees the battle, and Caim follows. Final Battles with the Empire Caim fights through the halls of the grand fortress, until he finds his sister along with a little dancing girl named Manah. The girl's voice is inhuman, speaking of Furiae's romantic feelings toward her brother. Caim looks away from her in disgust, turning to despair as his sister commits suicide. With that, the last seal is broken, and the world plummets to chaos. Caim leaves the fortress, only to find Inuart carrying Furiae's dead body. The two fight again, Caim winning this time. They chase Inuart to the imperial city, where they fight armies of imperial soldiers as the Seeds of Resurrection appear. Caim and the red dragon face off against a grand and legendary dragon, known as the Wyrm. Caim soothes the red dragon, forming their bond closer, and take down the mighty creature. They arrive at the Manah's castle and battle her undead soilders, then her. At her defeat, Manah begs for death, but Caim will not give it to her. For his own revenge, Caim claims that he will make sure the girl will live long enough to see all the horrible things she's done until she is driven insane. Now that the panic is over, the seals must once again be established. The red dragon, to Caim's horror, offers to become the seal. As they have their tragic goodbyes, the red dragon tells Caim her name, Angelus (Angel in Japanese), saying that he is the only human to know her name now. The seal completes, and the red dragon fades away. Caim is charged with the responsibility of taking Manah beneath his wing and showing her the torment she has wrought upon the world. It is imperative that she sees the pain and poverty she has caused to the lands, so that it prevents the same course of action occurring again. In the midst of traveling together, Caim is distracted by Angelus's pain from the seal, as Verdelet has increased the power on it. Manah takes this opportunity and stabs Caim's eye with a hidden dagger, throwing herself off a cliff in the process. Unable to locate her, Caim turns his vengeance on Verdelet and his Knights of the Seal. He hunts him down and kills him, turning his path to the rest of the seals. Later Years After years of fighting the knights, Caim grew to be known as the one eyed man. He never successfully destroyed a seal though. He ran into a boy named Nowe and found Manah once again. He attempted to capture her and failed. He found the District of Shining Life and attacked it. Since the guardian was missing, the attack was easy. He met with Nowe once again, and the two battled. Nowe sought revenge against Caim for killing his adopted father in an attack on the seal. Caim faltered for a moment and almost managed to get a death blow, but Urik jumped in the way. Due to Urik's pact with the reaper, he didn't die right away. Caim continued to cut down Urik until he finally killed him. During Urik's dying moments, he pushed Caim down a seemingly bottomless chasm. Caim didn't die however, and found Angelus after she had been released. He told Nowe to kill her, and had a last dying moment with her. As the two looked at each other with a bond no other knew, Angelus asked, "Is it over, Caim?" He answered, "It's over. We're together now." Caim looked at Nowe with a grateful smile before he faded to ashes with his dragon. Alternate Endings There are many alternative endings in the first Drakengard that involve Caim: Ending B After doing battle with Inuart, Caim tracks him down to stop him from using the Seeds of Destruction to revive Furiae. He fails, and Furiae is reborn as a monster. She kills Inuart and proceeds to fight Caim. He manages to kill her. As Caim stands on a hill, holding his dead sister in his arms, he gazes out at thousands of Furiae clones that rise around the city to destroy the world. Ending C Caim arrives at Manah's palace, only to find she has been eaten by a dragon. Angelus has also changed, becoming what is known as a Chaos dragon. She says that now they must fight, as the dragons plan on killing all of humanity and taking over. She breaks the pact, and the two fight. Caim kills Angelus, breaking his own heart in the process. With one last look at his dead friend, Caim runs into the light, ready to face the army of dragons. Ending D Seere's pact partner, a golem, manages to kill Manah. With the world driven insane and time distorted, the Grotesqueries fly down to kill all humans. They appear as giant flying babies with teeth, and their queen has the looks of a giant pregnant female. They battle against these odd creatures and lose many in their team. Arioch is eaten, Leonard explodes himself to kill many of them, and Caim is also defeated with his dragon. They do manage to get Seere to the large pregnant female, having him release his seal. As a result, a large section of the world becomes forever frozen in time. Ending E Caim and Angelus battle the Grotesquries Queen and destroy her. When the battle is over, they are in current time Tokyo and are shot down by jets. Unfortunately, once shot down, magic enters the world where it doesn't belong. This causes a poisoning that wreaks havoc on the world and causes a disease called the White Chlorination Syndrome to spread, destroying humanity. This ending leads to the events of Nier. Ironically, all of the weapons collected in Drakengard scatter across the world, some of them making it to the protagonist of Nier. Equipment and Appearance Caim was a tall man, age 24, at the begining of the series. In the first game, Caim had brown hair and dark eyes. He wore a white shirt and dark grey pants, with blue/grey armor on his chest. His sword was large, though he was able to weild it easily. In the second game, Caim's hair grew longer, and he wore light colored pants with a black and red tunic. Powers and Weapons Caim is widely known for sword, though he could obtain many other weapons through the first game. Since his sword contained the power of fire magic, he is mainly seen using fire. Caim is able to obtain many weapons of all kinds and is capable of using the magic power within them as well. Even though he gained much strength through his pact with Angelus, Caim was still a powerful warrior without his dragon. In Drakengard 2, He was able to overcome and defeat Nowe. Although Urik saved Nowe, Caim cut Urik and sent both off their feet. He later killed Urik even with Urik's pact with the reaper. He survived the fall down the chasm as well. Caim had huge durability, being stabbed several times and still being able to fight before making the pact. Caim, alongside Nowe, had both beaten their dragons. Caim and Nowe (In his new breed form) are the strongest in the series. Gallery Drakengard File:Dg-caim1.jpg File:Caim.jpg File:Caim_OA.jpg|Caim's pact crest on his tongue. File:Caim_FB.png File:Caim_&_Angelus.jpg File:Caim_Angelus.jpg|Caim and Angelus File:Caim_-_Original_Artwork.jpg|Some of Caim's first desings for Drakengard. Drakengard 2 File:Dg2-illust-book-back.jpg File:Dg2-illust-caim nowe.jpg|Caim vs Nowe File:Dg2-illust-caim angelus.jpg|Caim and Angelus File:Caim_with_Angelus.png Lord of Vermillon File:Caim-lov.jpg File:Caim-lovre2.jpg Trivia * Caim's official Birthday is September 12th to commemorate the release of Drakengard. Likewise, Nowe's is also on the same day. Category:Characters